United Steelworkers (USW), the largest private sector union in North America with more than 225,000 members in Canada and more than 800,000 members continent-wide had a group that was facing a lengthy strike (8 months already when SongBird was brought on) without any public awareness.
USW local 9176 was forced on strike in September 2013. Their employer refused to bargain in good faith and USW was having trouble even getting them back to the table. SongBird was hired to generate local public awareness through media opportunities.
STRATEGY
- Messaging Development: With a group of workers as the public face of the campaign, SongBird worked with USW to develop messaging that would get the story across in the best way.
- Media Relations: Since the public has such a negative perception of unions in general, SongBird worked to find angles that would appeal to both media outlets and their audiences. We targeted business, industry, labour movement, community, and ethnic media outlets, both print and broadcast.
RESULTS
SongBird secured coverage in top tier publications, both digital and print, and on broadcast media (radio & television). USW 9176’s story was featured in the following outlets: London Community News (Metroland), Rabble, CTV, NewsTalk 1290, Bloomberg Businessweek, Labor Notes, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Business Magazine, Now Magazine, CHRY, Torontoist, Le Journal de Quebec, Canoe.ca, TVA Nouvelles, Corriere Canadese, 680 News, Hamilton Spectator, Brantford Expositor, CBC News, CBC Metro Morning, Toronto Sun, OMNI TV, Global News, CP24, among others.
After 22 months on strike, the workers ratified a new deal.
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